Peter Schorsch
Immediately after U.S. Rep. David Jolly announced “The STOP Act,” a bold plan to ban federal elected officials from raising money while in office, he called on fellow congressional members to follow suit.
One politician who refused to take the call is U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, Jolly’s GOP rival in the upcoming Florida U.S. Senate primary.
By publicly rejecting Jolly’s pledge, DeSantis confirmed to voters what many others have already suspected: For him, raising money is more important than the job he was elected to do.
Nevertheless, within 24 hours, Jolly’s declaration already scored support from prominent congressional Republicans, including John Mica of Florida and Walter Jones of North Carolina, another Tea Party favorite. And Jolly’s statement had certainly made waves in the national media, garnering praise from conservatives and progressives alike.
While receiving kudos from both sides of the aisle, others, such as Tampa Bay’s Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, have not yet embraced the idea.
“Unless you address the super PACS, the millionaires and billionaires that have outsized influence on our campaign finance system, any incremental change is not going to really change the policy,” Castor recently told FloridaPolitics.com. A noble idea, indeed.
No matter how misguided DeSantis chooses to be, a sea change in politics has to start somewhere. And It could be just as easily said that politicians like DeSantis are either unwilling – or unable – to take the first significant step toward improving the system. Jolly is taking that step.
During his news conference to introduce the STOP Act, Jolly predicted it would make Washington insiders uncomfortable. Apparently, with the politicians like DeSantis, that prediction is already coming true.
